September 12, 2008

The AP Finds Even More Pharma Products In America’s Water Supply

Back in March, the AP’s investigative unit uncovered the fact that the water supplies of many American cities contained small amounts of pharmaceutcials, including hormones and mood stabilizers. Now, the AP has uncovered even more medications in urban water supplies, adding 17 more big cities to its list (for example, Reno, Nev., Savannah, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Huntsville, Ala.) and effecting the water supplies of 46 million Americans. The cities went off and did the testing on their own, spurred by the AP’s excellent reporting in March. The usual suspects showed up on the meds front, but the only psych med to make the list this time was Tegretol (carbamazapine).

“Chicago, for example, found a cholesterol medication and a nicotine derivative. Many cities found the anti-convulsant carbamazepine. Officials in one of those communities, Colorado Springs, say they detected five pharmaceuticals in all, including a tranquilizer and a hormone.”

Some cities turned out to have fairly clean water, one of them being Seattle. That’s not a surprise, given that my city’s water comes from high up in the Cascade Range where the pharma gods apparently do not reign. Apparently, other US cities are not so fortunate. One city water supply remains untested at this point: New York City.

While the risks of drugs in the water supply aren’t known, it’s is known that Prozac in small concentrations in streams makes fish not want to eat and make them swim weirdly. I imagine this cannot be good for small children much less adults.